Chapters (42)
- Cover Page
- EARLY BIRD BOOKS
- Praise for the Writing of Richard North Patterson
- Title Page
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- About the Author
His body trembled. I lay down the gun and pushed him off me. He flopped on his back, staring emptily at the ceiling, a dark stain near his heart. Kris Ann was crawling toward us. I couldn’t speak. There was no rain or wind or thunder.
In the aching, awful silence I got up and stumbled toward the telephone. I turned in the hallway. Kris Ann kneeled over Cade, tear streaked, holding his head in her hands. Her hair fell across his face.
I went to the telephone and told them to send Rayfield.
When I returned, Kris Ann was chattering at Cade, crying and asking him why. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. I let her go until she wasn’t speaking or sobbing. Then I went to her side.
“They’re coming,” I said softly.
She looked up at me. Her eyes were burnholes. “You had to kill him, didn’t you?”
“Krissy, it’s time now.” I reached out.
She turned away. When I took her hand it was lifeless. She didn’t struggle, or help. I pulled her up and led her to the porch as she looked back at Cade.
It was quiet outside, and cool. The rain had stopped, and there was the shine of wetness on the grass and the fresh smell of ozone. Sirens wailed in the distance, coming closer. Kris Ann wept. I pulled her to me. She was stiff in my arms, resisting. My eyes turned wet, and then I began silently to cry, for Henry and Lydia, and for my father, for what I had done and all the things between us Kris Ann and I would have to face.
She shivered. I held her close.
About the Author
About the Author
Richard North Patterson is a New York Times–bestselling author of more than twenty novels. An acknowledged master of the courtroom thriller, he was a trial lawyer in San Francisco for many years. His novels have been translated into thirty languages and several have been adapted for television and film. He is a winner of the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Award, the French Grand Prix de Littérature Policière, and the Silver Bullet Award from the International Thrillers Writers.
RICHARD NORTH PATTERSON
FROM OPEN ROAD MEDIA
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